FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT HIGHLAND BEACH - PAGE 5

A program tracing Anne Arundel County's 350-year history -- from the earliest Puritan settlement known as Providence to the intense development late in this century -- will premiere tomorrow night at 8 on Maryland Public Television. The nearly hourlong project, "Anne Arundel's Legacy," won an ovation Monday night in a preview showing at a popcorn-and-soda reception at Loews Annapolis Hotel. The audience of about 200 included public officials, corporate sponsors and some of the program's stars -- longtime county residents.

ITS ATTRACTIONS and beauty are so varied that Maryland has long claimed to be America in miniature. As far as tourism goes, though, there is little reason for smugness. Visitors coming here do not spend as much or stay as long as the national average.A program started two years ago is trying to change that.So far, eight historic areas in Maryland have submitted blueprints for developing heritage tourism over the next 10 years and are hoping for matching funds from the state.The goal: Lure visitors to lesser-known ethnic and specialized attractions that will round out their itineraries and lengthen their stays.

Seven Anne Arundel County organizations have been chosen by the Chesapeake Bay Program's Small Watershed Grants Initiative - a program that helps communities restore and preserve streams in the bay - to receive funding from federal agencies. The recipients announced yesterday by Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski are: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which will use its $100,000 Community Legacy grant to implement restoration and habitat projects in the South River. The city of Annapolis, which will use its $30,000 grant to install a rain garden in Back Creek Nature Park to manage storm-water runoff.

Graveside services for Robert Mars, whose furniture business had branches in Baltimore and Ocean City, will be held at noon today at the B'nai Israel Congregation Cemetery in Oxon Hill.Mr. Mars, who was 87, died Wednesday at his home in Bethesda after a stroke.He retired in 1980 as owner of the R. Mars Co., which he founded in Washington in 1934. The company, which sold furniture at a discount to members of labor unions and other organizations and to hotels and other institutions, had branches in several East Coast cities and, at one time, in Havana.

It's Not Just Money, It's RespectTeachers at MacArthur Middle School are extremely concerned with the lack of respect being shown us by the Board of Education. We would expect the board to show some amount of appreciation for what we do in the classroom.By the tenor of the negotiations, this is apparently not the case. In the past, we have made concessions with respect to economics, even agreeing to no raise in salary when it was clear that fiscal limitations would not permit one. The board has adopted "Goals 2000 for Anne Arundel County Schools," but does not seem to want to give the staff the peace of mind with which to concentrate on achieving these goals.

An Edgewater builder charged last month with forging county inspection documents was arrested again Friday and charged with forging more county papers and falsifying a Motor Vehicle Administration application, county police said yesterday.Edward D. Lakitsky, 41, of the 3300 block of Pocohontas Drive was charged with two counts each of forgery and passing a false document, police said.The forgery charges stem from Lakitsky's efforts, police said, to get a permit for a water and sewer connection to a house he was building in the 1200 block of Thomas Point Court in Highland Beach.

Crofton residents will have to wait until Monday night to see if consultants recommend that the community become Anne Arundel's third municipality.Community leaders -- who say they won't see the report until Monday -- are anticipating a crowd and have moved the meeting from Town Hall to the Arundel Fire Station on Davidsonville Road.Victor Tervala, a consultant for the Institute of Governmental Affairs at the University of Maryland-College Park, will give the presentation.Tervala would not divulge the report's contents yesterday.

DWELLING ON HISTORY can be good business, particularly in a county with as many historical sites as Anne Arundel.The County Council's decision to apply to the state government for a "heritage area" designation should help focus thinking and policy-making on ways to boost the county's growing tourism industry.The county would like to have an area stretching south from Sandy Point State Park along the Chesapeake Bay through Annapolis to the county line designated as the "Annapolis and London Town Heritage Area."

Annapolis fire officials closed a key portion of Aris T. Allen Boulevard for more than two hours after a backhoe operator struck a gas main yesterday afternoon.Capt. Leonard Clark, spokesman for the Annapolis Fire Department, said the worker was helping build townhouses in Oxford Landing for Crystal Custom Homes of Stevensville when he hit a 2-inch gas main maintained by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. at 1:45 p.m.The rupture sent gas vapors across Aris T. Allen Boulevard for several blocks and forced fire officials to close off a mile-long stretch of the highway between Chinquapin Road and Route 2, Captain Clark said.

Baltimore: Harborplace Salvation Army's '05 campaign to open The Salvation Army will kick off its 2005 Red Kettle Campaign today at the Inner Harbor amphitheater. The Salvation Army Band is set to begin playing at 10:45 a.m., and the ceremony will begin about 11 a.m. City Council President Sheila Dixon, the Salvation's Army's 2005 recipient of the Outstanding Civil and Charitable Contributions Award, will place the first "official" donation in the kettle for the 2005 holiday season. The Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is being recognized with the group's Outstanding Corporation Contributions Award.